Monday, 7 April 2014

Life ‘Post-Crane’ around the
Larne patch has been predictably dull, with just the occasional oddity turning
up and a slow trickle of migrants arriving through March.However, in the past week or so, things have
really livened up, with some birds actually troubling the bonus points column
on the score sheet!Since my last update
in early February, I have made more visits to Glynn Station and Sandy Bay than
I care to remember and have had no end of trouble trying to find certain
‘common’ species.Yet, somehow it all
seems worthwhile when the patch serves up birding gems like Kumlien’s Gull
and Glossy Ibis!

The only addition to the year
list in February following the Crane was a drake Shoveler, found loitering off Glynn Station with Wigeon on 22nd,
which I’m treating as a patch tick – although I do have a vague recollection of
seeing two females at Glynn many moons ago, but don’t seem to have noted it
down anywhere.

There has been no shortage of
gulls to check through during the past month or two, with a major arrival occurring
in mid-February and numbers generally building since then.I made a rough count of all the gulls visible
from Glynn Station on 20th February and tallied 1200 Black-headed
Gulls, 800 Common Gulls, 300 Herring Gulls, 25+ Great Black-backed Gulls, 5 Mediterranean Gulls and 3 Lesser
Black-backed Gulls. A grand total of over 2300 gulls, but this figure could
easily have been doubled had all the gulls in the north end of the lough been
counted.Paying close attention to the
gulls also revealed the spring arrival of Med Gulls, with at least 12 birds
being seen on at least one occasion (8 x adults, 2 x 2nd sum & 2 x 1st
sum) around the patch.By mid-March several
adults could be seen displaying off Glynn Station and most will hopefully stay
to breed on the nearby islands, which are currently heaving with gulls and
terns.

No further year ticks were seen
until 9th March when I finally caught up with a Kingfisher at Glynn Station.Later that day, on my first foray to Curran Point of the year I managed
two more with 15+ apparently fresh in Meadow
Pipits and a female Stonechat.On my second visit here on 17th
March, a nice male Wheatear was present.This site definitely seems capable of attracting
passerine migrants.

Other early spring migrants were
picked up around the patch on predictable March dates – Black-tailed Godwits on 14th, the first Chiffchaff singing at Bank Road on 16th,
Sandwich Terns off Glynn Station on
29th and a Blackcap at
Glynn Lagoon on 30th.Although
a Whimbrel seen and heard off Glynn
on 19th March had most likely wintered there.

Little Egret and Water Rail
proved surprisingly difficult to get onto the year list. The former was not
encountered at until 14th March and an early morning stake out of
the private lagoon at Glynn was required for the latter the following day.

﻿﻿﻿

March is normally one of the best
months of the year in Larne Lough, as in addition to the mass arrival of gulls,
there is also a nice build-up of ducks, geese and waders and this year proved
to be no exception. Peak counts from Glynn Station included: 120 Brent Geese,
145 Redshank, 6 Greenshank, 100+ Curlew, 129 Eider, 63 Goldeneye and 58
Red-breasted Merganser. As well as occasional Red-throated and Great Northern
Divers.

I was beginning to think the most
unusual gull sighting of the winter was going to be an adult Kittiwake seen roosting off Glynn
Station on 19th March, but an evening trip to the local garage on 31st
soon changed that idea.Driving home
along the harbour highway, I noticed a nice collection of gulls loafing at the
Inver River mouth at high tide.I pulled
onto the hard shoulder and was scanning the flock with my bins, when I was
stopped in my tracks by a most welcome tail pattern! I focussed in on the bird –
an adult Kumlien’s
Gull, but something wasn’t quite right, it was at the dark end of
things for Kumlien’s, appeared rather chunky and most strikingly appeared to
have an all dark bill.At that moment I
realised I had no scope with me, so after a quick dash home, I was soon back
viewing the bird from the Bank Road side of the lough as it drifted further
away on the outgoing tide.I managed
good views and took some shots through the scope.The eye was also dark (ok for adult Kumlien’s),
the breast and neck heavily marked/streaked and the bill did have some blotches
of yellow on it, suggesting it may have been stained or caked in mud.Later that night, once confirmed as a Kumlien’s
by various other gull enthusiasts, I updated my patch score sheet to discover
it was worth a whopping 6 points!

﻿

I arrived home from a work visit
to England late on 3rd April to discover that the Glossy Ibis
first seen outside the patch boundary in January had been seen off Glynn Station.Obviously this necessitated a 7am visit the
next morning before work, but there was no sign, although the first Willow Warbler of the year was in full
song at the station.

My next visit to Glynn Station on
the evening of 6th April, will live long in the memory.I arrived to find a couple of local birders
casually chatting about a Pintail –
I raised my bins and right at the mouth of the river was a stunning drake,
which I quickly told them (not that they cared much) was the first time I had
ever seen this species in the lough.Shortly afterwards, the original patch birder himself - Cameron Moore
arrived to get some shots of the bird. He then told me he had seen the Glossy
Ibis there that morning.Whilst enjoying
views of the Pintail a small grebe popped up into my field of view.I got onto it through the scope and stopped
Cameron mid-sentence and said you might want to take a look at this grebe!A smart Slavonian
Grebe almost in full summer plumage was feeding just yards away from the
Pintail!This was as good as a patch
tick, as my only previous record was of a dubious long range bird several years
ago.I have seen summer plumaged Slav’s
in Strangford and Lough Foyle before, but never at such close range.An absolute belter.

I ventured off to view the
private lagoon from the main road, hoping to finally see the Glossy Ibis.After half an hour searching there was no
sign, but I did manage to year tick Coot!I returned to the platform at Glynn to find
that another couple of birders had arrived to see the grebe.As all present stood taking in views of the
grebe and Pintail, local birder Brian shouted out “hold on, isn’t that the Ibis
just off the point?” Err hell yea it is!Appearing as if from nowhere, the Glossy Ibis was now standing within
feet of the feeding Pintail and Slav Grebe…

Having birded around Larne for
many years, this sort of thing just does not happen here.Whatever next I asked Cameron, “Pelicans” he
replied.

All this action leaves me on 102 species or 131 points for the year.

Shirley Dunlop, Gerard McGeehan, Cameron Moore and Brian enjoying all the goings on at Glynn last night...

Saturday, 5 April 2014

It has been a struggle but today I hit 100 species with two WILLOW WARBLERS and two distant MANX SHEARWATERS. My points total is only 121 which shows that rarities are practically non-existent on my patch, so far at least.
Apart from picking up a few migrants the species of note in the last couple of weeks were, WHOOPER SWAN (4), WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE (30+), GREYLAG GOOSE (3) and most surprisingly TUFTED DUCK (1) seen flying into the Common Scoter flock.